The CarerQol Instrument: A Systematic Review, Validity Analysis, and Generalization Reliability Study.

Background/Objectives: The CarerQol instrument is used to measure the quality of life of informal caregivers and to assess the impact that caring for a dependent person has on them. The scale consists of two parts, CarerQol-7D, which measures the effects of informal care using two positive and five negative domains, and CarerQol-VAS, which measures happiness on a visual analog scale. Methods: In the present work, we conducted a systematic review of the instrument since its development in 2006, followed by a (convergent, clinical, and discriminative) validity analysis and a meta-analysis of the reliability of generalizing CarerQol. A total of 54 articles that used CarerQol were identified. Results: The instrument was found to have good convergent, clinical, and discriminant validity, although the average reliability coefficient was 0.67 (95% CI [0.56, 0.75]) for Cronbach's alpha coefficients and 0.62 (95% CI [0.04, 0.89]) for test-retest reliability coefficients, with a high degree of heterogeneity between the coefficients. Conclusions: According to the psychometric theory, CarerQol is a reliable instrument and can be used for exploratory purposes in the field of research, although it should be used with caution when making decisions in clinical practice.